SS013
is the 13th episode of Pokémon the Series: Sword & Shield. Synopsis Following the match at the Pokémon battle tournament, a Drednaw end up Dynamaxing in the stadium! Ash and Go confront it but then Ash's Pikachu gets shrouded in a red light.....?! Episode Plot As the Gigantamax Drednaw, enters the stadium Team Rocket continue to flee from the giant Pokémon, while Ash and Go heads outside to confront it along their Pokémon. Once outside the stadium, the boys tries get Drednaw to calm itself down as it was trying to wreck the stadium with the people inside. However attack the boys, leaving them with no choice but to battle it. Ash state that they'll battle it in order to get its attention and to lure it away from the stadium. Go question on they even take care of Gigantamax Pokémon, Ash admits he don't know but it worth trying anyway. Ash tells go to stay back, but latter refuses as he want to help battle Drednaw, with they agreed and prepare a battle. Ash orders his Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, which did nothing to Drednaw. Go tells Scorbunny to use Double Kick but end up the same result. Drednaw dives in and attacks, which Pikachu to counters with Electroweb, only Drednaw to break through it. As the boys run away from Drednaw, the giant Pokémon hit a hidden den which cause Pikachu to Dynamax as well. The boys were completely shock to see Pikachu Gigantamaxed in front of them. As the Gigantamax Drednaw continue to attack, Ash order Pikachu to use Quick Attack. However, due his massive size, Pikachu couldn't properly uses Quick Attack and gets hit by Drednaw's G-Max Stonesurge, causing Pikachu to land on the stadium, causing the people to panic. Knowing that the people are still inside, Ash then decide to tell Pikachu to use Iron Tail. Pikachu Grabs his tail prepare to attack. Leon appears and see Pikachu Gigantamax. Pikachu uses his Iron Tail on the ground, causing the attack to to be transform into Max Steelspike. Ash praises Pikachu, which gets Leon attention as he see Ash battling without a Dynamax Band. Drednaw prepare a -type Max Move: Max Rockfall, which worry the Ash and Go by this attack. Leon call to the boys and tells Ash to have his Pikachu uses G-Max Volt Crash, which Ash will try to do so. As Drednaw launches its Max Move, Ash command his Pikachu to use G-Max Volt Crash, causing Pikachu G-Max Move to cancel Drednaw attack and sends the giant Pokémon flying off and being slamming into the ground, return back to normal size. Pikachu triumphs over his victory as he being return to normal size too. Team Rocket seizes the opportunity to capture Drednaw and to go find it. Leon arrives down to check on the boys' safety, with them assuring Leon they're alright. Ash thanks for Leon's help, with the latter thanking the former and his friends help with Drednaw. After introducing themselves, Ash ask Leon to have a battle with him, with Go and Leon's shock by Ash's favor. A worker from stadium arrives and blame Ash and Go with the Gigantamax Pokémon, thinking they were behind the incident. However, Leon assure the man that they were the heroes that stop Drednaw. As the man apologize for mistaken them for the disaster, Leon winks at Ash knowing he got them covered. On the next day at the Pokémon Center, the boys and their Pokémon are having a little snack on Galar's famous scones. Go notice Ash is acting a bit off, until he spot a Pokémon eating some of the scones. Go look up the Pokémon on phone, revealing to be a Skwovet and catches the Pokémon with success. Go is happy that he caught his second Galar Pokémon, but still sees Ash space out and ask the latter what's troubling him. Ash tells Go that he keeps thinking of Leon's battle he had yesterday with Lance. Go knows that Ash wants to battle Leon, so he tells him that he can participate in the Pokémon World Championships in order to do that. Go explains to Ash that he needs to sign up and battle his way through different ranks. The ranks are position based on the trainer's record and performances and the top eight ranked trainers are called the "Master Class". At the end of each season, the eight trainers fight in a tournament and the Winner will become the Champion. Ash is exciting about this and plans to enter the competition to battle Leon, but Go warns him that is not going to be easy. He then tells him that the participating Trainers are seperated into four classes, based on their win and lose ratios and battling performances. All new competitors start in the first class, which is the Normal Class, the competitors that are in ranks 999 to 99 will compete in the Super Class, the next rank is the Hyper Class in which the competitors ranked 99 to 9 compete, and the top eight trainers are in the Master Class as mentioned before. Leon is postioned at the very top, so Ash needs to battle through the ranks if he wants to have a chance to challenge Leon. Ash has some trouble trying to understand the whole ranking system, but he figures that winning a lot of battles is what he should do. Ash is determined by this goal as he quickly eats his scones but he chokes on them instead. Someone hands him some water and Ash sees that it's Leon. Leon tells him that he will accept Ash's earlier request for a battle which makes Ash very happy and Go very surprised. Meanwhile, Team Rocket has been looking for Drednaw all night but to no avail when James suddenly notices a Pokémon biting on Jessie's hair. Meowth uses their Rotom Phone to find out that the Pokémon is a Chewtle, the pre-evolved form of Drednaw. Learning that this Pokémon evolves into the Pokémon they have been looking for, the trio decides to take Chewtle instead to Giovanni. At Wyndon Stadium, Ash and Leon are preparing for their battle. Dan will act as the referee by Leon's request. Leon hands Ash a Dynamax Band and explains that he should use it to control the Dynamax even though he was able to use Dynamax without yesterday. He then explains that when a Pokémon Dynamaxes, the names and powers of its type moves also change. Go continues the explanation, giving examples of some of the changes to Pikachu's moves when he is Dynamaxed: -type moves become Max Strike, -type moves become Max Steelspike, and -type moves become Max Lightning. Since Pikachu is also able to Gigantamax, Leon states that his Electric moves become G-Max Volt Crash instead of Max Lightning, and that Dynamaxing is only triggered by recalling the Pokémon into its Poké Ball and charging it up with the Dynamax Band, using the Pokémon after that. Ash comments that Pikachu hates going into his Poké Ball, but states that they should be able to do so. Ash borrows the Dynamax Band and is amazed by it as he put it on his wrist. Ash and Leon take their places and send out their Pokémon. Ash chooses Pikachu, while Leon, just as Ash hoped, sends out his Charizard. While Go state that Pikachu has a type advantage, Leon reminds Ash that he has an unbroken winning streak, which the former is alright with. As Dan starts the battle, Ash makes the first move and orders Pikachu to use Quick Attack, which Charizard counters with Thunder Punch. Pikachu then uses Iron Tail, Charizard blocks it with Thunder Punch again. Charizard goes to attack and Pikachu tries to counter with an Electroweb, but Charizard breaks through it by using another Thunder Punch. Charizard then uses Air Slash which succesfully hit Pikachu. Despite of this, Pikachu stands strong, and uses Thunderbolt. Charizard counters with Flamethrower, which starts to win over Thunderbolt, leaving Pikachu with only a small space to protect him from the -type move. Ash tells Pikachu to hang there and stay strong. Seeing Ash's determination, Pikachu starts applying to increase the power in his attack. Ash's Dynamax Band responds to their determination and starts to glow, sending the Dynamax energy into Pikachu and causing him to Gigantamax. As the Gigantamax takes effect, Thunderbolt transforms into G-Max Volt Crash, which overpowers the Flamethrower and hit Charizard, knocking it into the ground. Ash is happy that he succeeded in Gigantamaxing again, which Leon happily responds by recalling and Gigantamaxing his Charizard too. Ash orders Pikachu to use Max Strike, but Charizard easily dodges the attack and uses Max Airstream. Despite Pikachu's struggle, it is thrown back by the wind. Pikachu goes for a Max Steelspike, but since he is struggling to stand up again, Charizard uses Max Lightning before Pikachu can use Max Steelspike. Going all out, Ash orders pikachu to use G-Max Volt Crash, and Charizard responds with his own G-Max Move, G-Max Wildfire. Both attacks hit the opponent but Charizard endures the Electric attack. G-Max Wildfire's secondary effect takes Pikachu out, who turns back into its normal form and is knocked out. Ash rushes to check on Pikachu while Dan declared Leon the winner. Leon is disappointed about the outcome and he reverts his Charizard to its normal size and form. Ash tends to Pikachu, stating he did his best, as Leon goes to Ash and gives him an Oran Berry to restore Pikachu's strength. Ash thanks Leon for the battle, and Leon says that battles can't be fun unless they are taken serious. Ash wants to return his Dynamax Band to Leon, but the latter tells him to keep it. Leon tells Ash that he likes young Trainers like him, however, to statisfy Leon, Ash needs to put on more of a show. Leon turn around and leave but Ash requests for another battle with him the next time they meet. Leon accepts his request and promise that their next battle will be an official one in front of an audience. While Ash and Go leave the stadium, Ash says that he's going to enter the Pokémon World Championships tournament to face Leon again and will defeat him to become closer to his goal to be a Pokémon Master. Go is happy by his friend's determination as Ash and Pikachu vows to become stronger to reach their new goal. Ash turns around to the stadium one more time and imagines himself battling Leon while being witnessed by a huge but cheering audience. Debuts Pokémon *Gigantimax Pikachu (Ash's) *Skwovet (Go's) *Chewtle Moves *G-Max Stonesurge *Max Steelspike *Max Rockfall *G-Max Volt Crash Trivia *"Who's that Pokémon?:" Drednaw (JP) Gallery Category:Episodes featuring Champions Category:Episodes written by Shōji Yonemura Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Kazuaki Mōri Category:Episodes animated by Rei Yamazaki Category:Episodes featuring Dynamax Pokémon Category:Episodes featuring a main character's Pokémon learning a new move Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon